Doing something small that only takes five minutes a day may seem trivial but track it over a period of time and you’ll see and feel the momentum it gains. Often when we aim for big change in our lives, it just becomes a disappointment as each day passes with little or no change.
“Our daily decisions and habits have a huge impact upon both our levels of happiness and success.” — Shawn Anchor
Here are three 5 minute daily habits that will increase your performance and results:
– Do a 5 minute daily check in with your team, (and even your family.) What are they working on? What are their challenges? How can you help them? This is not only transformational for your relationships, but also your growth (you’ll learn more about different personalities, perspectives and the root of certain behaviours, you’ll strengthen your communication and influencing skills, and you’ll have a tangible way to manage expectations and results.) Commit to this with everyone in your team and you’ll create trust, transparency and loyalty.
– Do a 5 minute daily review. At the end of the day, spend 5 minutes highlighting a successful event or result. Despite good intentions, feedback from many of the teams I work with is that ‘we never take the time to celebrate successes.’ This is a wasted opportunity to increase motivation and sense of purpose.
– Do a 5 minute daily gratitude exercise. Countless studies are proving this makes you feel happier – it’s something you can do on your own but why not do it as a team too?
Shawn Anchor says that gratitude listing “rewire[s] your brain, allowing [it] to actually work more optimistically and more successfully…to retain a pattern of scanning the world, not for the negative, but for the positive first.”
5 minutes a day can create long lasting positive change – start small and enjoy the results. It’s well worth the effort!